"STYX" WAS A NAIAD, A TYPE OF NYMPH THAT PRESIDES OVER FOUNTAINS, WELLS, SPRINGS, AND BROOKS; HER NAME MEANS "HATEFUL." NAIADS WERE SUPPOSED TO KNOW THE FUTURE AND TO FORETELL HUMANS THEIR DESTINY. STYX WAS THE NAME OF THE GODDESS WHO REPRESENTED THE RIVER, STYX, A CROSSROADS BETWEEN THE LAND OF THE LIVING AND THE LAND OF THE DEAD; IN FACT, SHE WAS THE ONLY FEMALE RIVER. HER RIVER WAS THE MOST HOLY AND SACRED, AND BY ITS NAME, EVEN THE GODS TOOK THEIR MOST SOLEMN OATHS. THIS WAS WHERE THE MORTAL MET THE WORLD OF THE IMMORTAL.

STYX WAS THE OLDEST DAUGHTER OF OCEANUS AND TETHYS; SHE WAS THE WIFE OF PALLAS. THEIR CHILDREN WERE ZELUS, NIKE, CRATOS, AND BIA...AND SHE WAS DARK, DANGEROUS, AND POWERFUL. SHE WAS AN ALLY OF ZEUS IN THE TITAN WARS AND BECAUSE OF THIS, WAS HONORED GREATLY BY THE OLYMPIANS. IT IS SAID THAT THE GODDESS HELD SPECIAL POWERS AND COULD BESTOW THE GIFT OF IMMORTALITY. IT IS ALSO SAID THAT SHE HAD THE POWER TO MAKE SOMEONE INVULNERABLE, AND SOME BELIEVE THAT THE GREAT ACHILLES WAS DIPPED INTO THE RIVER BY HIS MOTHER. SHE HELD HIM BY HIS HEEL, THE ONLY PART OF HIS BODY NOT SUBMERGED. HIS EXPOSED HEEL FROM THEN ONWARD BECAME KNOWN AS "ACHILLE'S HEEL", A METAPHOR FOR A WEAK SPOT.